


Fire Engine? What Fire Engine?

by Dolanus



Series: Imaginationland Stories [7]
Category: Martin Beck Stories - Maj Sjöwall & Per Wahlöö, Persona 4, Persona Series
Genre: Ace defectives I mean Ace Detectives, Adult Content, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Detectives, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - No Personas (Persona Series), Based off the Gösta Ekman versions, Detectives, Established Relationship, F/M, Fire, Gen, Murder, Other, Remake? more or less, but also from the novels themselves, except some victims but yeah, investigators, remake of The Fire Engine that Disappeared
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-14
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:04:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27010126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dolanus/pseuds/Dolanus
Summary: AKA The Fire Engine that Disappeared... with some Persona 4 characters instead of Sjowall and Wahloo's characters.In the middle of the night, an apartment was burned. Unfortunately, three of its residents lost their lives, one of them was a SPANK dealer by the name of Chambe Kasaev. Although he was legally allowed to sell SPANK to scientists and artists, rumours claimed that he was selling SPANK to non-scientists... was it a suicide? or something else? Yu Amagi (nee Narukami) and his investigation team has to find out!
Relationships: Amagi Yukiko/Narukami Yu, Amagi Yukiko/Persona 4 Protagonist, Amagi Yukiko/Seta Souji
Series: Imaginationland Stories [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1390324
Kudos: 1





	1. Happy Birthday, Yukiko Fumihirovna Amagi!

**Author's Note:**

> As with all my Imaginationland stories, it’s an AU and will always be an AU. The Persona 4 characters + others are just normal humans with somewhat normal-ish backgrounds (Yu may or may not have nonappearing parents; Yukiko is no heiress/manager of an inn but she a chef, Rise is a musical journalist and so on), not wholly connected to their source material, although they’re friends. Some of the content might refer to the original content (Yu being an investigator, Yukiko as a chef), but not all of it. In other words, there’s no Adachi/Ameno-Sagiri/Card summoning/Igor/Izanagi/Izanami/Margaret/Marie/Namatame/Nanako hospitalized/Chisato dead/Konishi dead to deal with, so if you wanted a P4-canon fic, you’re in the wrong place. I just like mashing up content to build another story, and also because I like Martin Beck so much I put him as a Martin Beck analogue.

A thirty-five year old, 70kg, 180cm detective (ranked as a Lieutenant) by the name of Yu Amagi (nee Narukami) left the South police staion at Zemljanikovo (Strawberry in GTA 5), on a cold Friday evening. Yu stood in line at its liquor store, purchasing a bottle of Akadama and Okinskoe, two wines that his wife, Yukiko Amagi, liked the most. He also bought a red tulip, a can of Köck biscuits, and a metal can (1 liter) of Chocolate Starfish Ice Cream. He was going to congratulate her, as it was her birthday. He then waited for a bus then took said bus, going to his and his wife’s apartment. As he waited for his bus to arrive, he pondered on that promotion, which he did not like. 

He didn’t want to be the chief of the Homicide Squad and had no plans to get to any higher rank besides First detective inspector Lieutenant. Yu doubted if he’d actually get to something higher. He was part of the police force for 14 years of his life. At 21, he was a regular patrol officer around Eastern Los Santos, then getting into the city’s Police Academy a year later. He was one of the best of his class and was a detective inspector by 28. 

That time he also met his wife, Yukiko Amagi (also 35, but several months older, 63kg, 164cm), who happened to take a break from a cooking class. They (as in simultaneously) fell in love. Eventually, they settled at nearby Ajdelvud (originating its name from a group of African American settlers) district, which was 2 kilometers from Yu’s police office, also her family’s residence. Since her family did not have a male child, Yu took his wife’s surname to continue the line of descent and to honour her. 

Yu sat on the wooden chair in the bus and looked through its window. He was thinking about buying her a CJD-4 for her birthday, all while he was reading Lossantosovskie Novosti, pulled from his pocket. In a normal wintry day, he’d feel somewhat uncomfortable over the bus’ heating system. He pondered and thought of it “I’ll buy it on Monday.”, as the bus stopped near their apartment.

Yu walked towards the apartment complex and reached to theirs, taking three flights of stairs. Since it started to snow, fitting for a name of the girl he loves, Yu smiled, referring to the fact that it started to snow on the beginning of his wife’s birthday. 

There, he knocked the door, opened it and reached to his wife, Yukiko Amagi. She looked at him, stood up and walked towards him. 

“Hey, Yuša!” She greeted him with kisses as she embraced him. “What’s that?” 

“My personal gift.” Yu answered her, showing her his gift. A red tulip, two bottles of wine, a can of ice cream and a can of biscuits. Yukiko was so happy with his personal gift. 

“Happy birthday, Yukiko Amagi!”. Yu kissed her and pulled her ears. “Grow up well, Yukiko! Don’t be a noodle!” he whispered. 

“Ah, thank you!” Yukiko thanked Yu as she gave him kisses. 

“Which do you want? The Akadama or the Okinskoe?” he asked as he laid his hands on her belly. 

“Well, the Akadama tastes nice, so yeah, we gotta finish it. The Okinskoe could be for the Pesnja Goda!” Unlike its Soviet/Russian version, it was also like Kōhaku Uta Gassen, live, on the last day of the year, not to mention it was recorded for viewers to enjoy on a different date, provide they requested orders or saw a video version over the Sannet. It also had a contest every June, as a sort of finals. “But we gotta finish the Chocolate Starfish!” she told him as he took his coat and his tunic suit.

“Come to think of it, you have a point there.” Yu answered back. 

“The biscuits can come later!” 

While eating dinner, the couple discussed about buying a car. They’ve agreed to buy one mostly because Yu and his police work meant he had shitloads of papers. Some years ago, right after marrying Yukiko and moving into their apartment, Yu accidentally dropped a box of papers on the way home, right in front of Yukiko. At the same time, she also had to bring home some of her cooking equipment. Until then, they agreed to come and help her/him carry their stuff home (as much as possible, if need be), until they bought a car to do that for them. 

“Say, Yu, what do you think about buying a car? I think we have the money to get one.” 

“Haven’t thought of it yet. I guess, I’d want the 2108? Looks pretty good.” Yu wasn’t even sure, considering they were used to commuting, and neither were gearheads, although he heard of people racing their Ladas/Zettos (local San Andrean name) and Santosičes in the city. 

“Not a bad choice!” She nodded, shocked that his first choice... was also a 2108. 

"So how's work?" Yu asked. 

"Oh, it was good, as for most days." Yukiko answered as she ate some of the curry she made. "And yours?" 

"Not much, aside from the usual petty crimes." Yu answered as well, also eating the same curry. "Has anyone greeted you aside from our parents and friends, like Yosuke, Rise and Kanji and Naoto? Kou, Daisuke, Yuuta, and Saki send their regards." 

"Yeah. Tell them I said 'hi' and 'thanks'!" 

"Sure, I will." Yu smiled. Next they'll have to finish a liter can of ice cream.


	2. An Inferno

In the Northern part of Los Santos, Saki Konishi only wanted to go home to fix herself, see that dealer, find out whatever shit he was into for 1/4 of a day, and fuck off to her home, with a Degenatron-1 to play The Man Who Went Up in Smoke and some shitload of games. The 161cm, 70kg, 34 year old woman was happy enough to boast about buying said console, to the point that she boasted it and her colleagues (including Yu) would be shocked to hear that the console still had enough copies for everyone, even if its manufacturer (Elektrosignal, not to be confused by its Russian counterpart) stopped production for its successors 15 years ago and moved onto better ones, like the Degenatron-2. She took her Bolsevicka greatcoat, put the light off and left. 

She drove her Škoda Garde (a rare car by San Andrean standards) across Mvalovskij district, glancing to the left, then the right. From there, her Garde continued straight to Rajtovskij district, then went left to Sokolskij district, right towards Miyukij station, then stopped at Eisunskaja street. A park, Afian, spreads out at Eisunskaja street, then there’s a small factory of microchips and a technical university, a car park and a banayad station. That place is called Afianovo, a planned district that was once a purely residential area, fucked over by planners over 50 years ago. Some of its features still remain, such as a winding road that leads to another district, often used by taxis or lost police cars. In the winter, like now, nobody is ever seen outside, except Konishi and another man. 

Said man was a policeman by the name of Ahusko Anganskij. He wished he wasn’t freezing his ass off. Saki left the car, pulled down her Budenovka, approached the man and greeted him. 

“Hey, Ahusko.” 

“Eveninggggg, Sakiiii.” the man shivered. “I wish- I wasn’t freezing my sorry ass off!” They were over a hill. 

“You want food?” she asked. 

“If I could!” Ahusko replied.

“Anything else happened?” 

“Nothing at all.” 

“There was a party up there an hour ago. Now it’s as if they aren’t doing anything.” 

“And Chambe?” 

“It’s been three hours since he turned his light off.” 

“Anything else?” 

“There’s some party, and some people came in and out, part of that party, I think. A taxi came there some hours ago.” 

“Think?” Saki asked inquiringly. 

“Yeah.” Ahusko’s teeth chattered. 

Saki looked at him again. 

“Dude, there’s an eatery down there.” Saki pointed by the winding road. “Get some hot food and take a break! Come back here in an hour!” Although Saki reassured the man, she didn’t tell him outright he was an idiot, and didn’t tell him to fuck off. In a pretty normal setting, she’d lash out already. She didn’t shit on him because it was so cold. 

Being a former member of the northern polar research crews (at a free energy icebreaker called Andranskij Reged for three years) the thirty four year old woman was used to cold weather. She was a graduate student who was a researcher, eventually getting into the northern pole. But as years went by, the work of being a seaman-researcher made her lose interest. Sitting her ass off in an icebreaker or outside of it freezing her ass of, made her decide to change jobs and become a policewoman, to the horror of the Konishi family (owners of a small liquor shop) in Gurenovo and in Cvetkovo, in the Eastern part of the city.

There were several inhabitants at the place right now. In those four flats, there were: an bachelorette who had family in Muljavostok, a graduate of the nearby university, and was a constant drunk, to the point she was a regular member of the cells at the nearby police station. Then there was an old couple, seventy years old (as far as Saki knew), and lived there for almost 30 years. Aside from them, there was a 28 year old woman who was known for several sentences: drunk driving, breaking and entering, to assault. Her name was Nekun’ and she threw the party for her chums: two men and two women. They already turned the music off, possibly to sleep or celebrate in some other way. 

On the right, lived the person that Konishi was looking at. She knew who this person (Cambe Kasaev) was and his appearance, but not why he should be watched. Since there was no special murder to deal with, she was sent far away to do some watching. And she hated waiting her ass off. She was given some people and rules: don’t let the man escape or disappear, nothing happens to him, and note whoever he meets. 

She even question the heads’ motives. Even Narukami argued that SPANK dealers shouldn’t be targets, and they should be dealing with the bigger heads, maybe local SPANK producers. 

Saki looked at her watch on the left wrist. It was 10:53. Ahusko had 47 minutes for his break. She yawned and stretched to keep herself active. In that exact moment, the apartment exploded. 

“Holyshitsonofabitch!” Saki screamed. 

Beginning with a bang, the windows where her target was at, were blown out, flame coming out of its panes. Saki was shocked with a gaping mouth. 

Then she rushed and cursed, screaming “Motherfucker!”, all while slipping down the slope, across the street and towards the house. As the building burned, Konishi thought that the roof already sagged. She flung open the door and saw it was too late. The blaze was more like an inferno. The fire hit against her lightly and made her recoil backwards, singing her budenovka. From inside, she could hear the screams of humans in pain and terror. She presumed some were already dead, and the flame shot out from the right flat. She sought for a ladder or an aid, but there was nothing to see. A window was opened and she thought she saw a woman trying to jump. 

She shouted with her hands. “Jump, jump to the left!” The other woman was hesitant as Saki kept shouting. “I’ll catch you! Go!” 

The woman jumped and put her down the ground. She was naked and screaming and tossed her head from side to side.  
The fire was stronger than ever...

‘If that fucking engine won’t come!’ Saki angrily cursed out loud, as she tried to come closer. Bits and pieces of wood fell, alongside sparks that fell on her face and her coat. She shouted as loudly as she can to make herself heard by everyone above the fire. 

A woman soon appeared, covered in a sheet. 

“Jump! I’ll catch you!” She repeated. 

The woman soon jumped. Saki succeeded in saving her, but next came another, a man, also wrapped in a sheet. She told the man to jump, and he did. Unfortunately, the sheet caught on fire and the man was heavier. Luckily, Saki got him. 

“Damn, this nibba’s heavy!” she cursed as she ripped off the sheet. It turns out the man was naked, except for a weding ring. 

Saki turned around and saw a woman wearing a grey bra, her hair being burned, rolling around the snow. She was badly burned in most areas. Saki assumed this was a slightly older woman. 

Soon enough, she saw a figure falling down, on fire as well. As Saki approached the man, she realized the figure wasn’t moving. The topmost part of the apartment was on fire as well. Somebody shouted for help and Saki turned to the source of the sound. She saw an old woman screaming for help. Saki told the woman to jump as well, and succeeded, albeit falling as well. She put the woman to a side and heard running steps. It was Anganskij, panting that his face was red. She stared at Ahusko and asked him: “Where the fuck’s the fire engine?!” 

“It should be here! I mean, I saw the fire from Nekovskij district! So I ran and called them!” Anganskij answered inbetween pants. 

“Run again, for fuck’s sake! Get the engines and the ambulance! AND THE POLICE!” Saki emphasized.

Saki returned back to the building and looked for a tool and saw a large stone, frozen into the ground. She assumed that it was somewhere between 20 to 25 kgs. She raised it above her head and flung it at the window, hitting it square and causing smoke to come out. She climbed the first floor’s window and sought people. There, she saw a couple, the old couple. She took the old woman, who was getting weak, and put her down to the ground, followed by saving an old man, who was unconscious. 

She lifted him out as well, and placed the blanket over him. She dragged both of them away and checked both of them if they were alive. They were. 

Saki then pulled out her greatcoat and wrapped it around the old couple, followed by taking off her jacket and giving it to the woman, who shared it with the other woman. She had not much to cover herself, aside from her t-shirt and her trousers and footwear, but she gave the budenovka to the man and helped him towards the women. She then lifted the burned woman and hauled her with the survivors. 

Soot-streaked, a bit singed, drenched in sweat, she stood amongst the hysterical, shocked, screaming, unconscious, weeping and dying survivors. As if in a real war. Above them came the roar of sirens, followed by everybody. Water tankers, fire engines and ladders, police cars, ambulances, fire chief’s cars and motorcycle police, followed by random passers and vehicles. 

Then there was Anganskij, who just asked “what happened?!” And at that moment, as Saki Šinjavovna Konishi looked at the time (It was 11:09 PM), the house collapsed.


	3. A Meeting

On a Saturday afternoon, the ninth of December, Saki Konishi sat at a room in the police station at Zemljanikovo. She had a grey sweater and an Enka/Kokumin-Fuku style suit with slanting pockets (the Otsu model). Her hands were bandaged and her head was also bandaged, to the point she imagined herself as a mummy. Aside from that, her face and neck had bandages as well. Some of her hair was singed, but she was still the same old, discontented Saki. 

Aside from her, there was Yu Amagi and Daisuke Nagase, called from the Murder Investigation Squad. Aside from them, was Yu’s uncle, Ryotaro, who was their superintendent and was considered responsible for the investigation. He was getting old, and realized his daughter, Nanako was starting to be like him. 

“Where are the others?” Yu asked. 

“What others?” asked his uncle and his superintendent, Ryotaro, aware that the investigation team’s composition was nominally under his affair, although it was Yu who actually called the shots, as he got older. He was the one who actually nominated Yu, followed by his fellow investigators. 

“Ichijou and Ozawa,” Yu answered, stoically. 

“Kou’s at the Southwestern Hospital and Ozawa’s at the scene of the fire.” Ryotaro said afterward. 

The daily newspapers were laid out on the desk in front of Saki Konishi and she was pissed, rustling them with her bandaged hands. 

“Fucking hell, look at the fucking picture!” She complained and shoved the papers at Yu. 

The picture, from Lossantosovskie Novosti, took most of front page and had a young man with a coat, poking around the ashes with a stick in the ruins of the building in Afianovo. On the left hand corner of the picture, Saki Konishi was standing in front of it, staring foolishly into the camera. 

“I didn’t even ask for my permission...” She complained. 

“You know who the dude is on the right?” Yu asked as he sipped some coffee. “The one with the stick?”

“Ahusko Anganskij. A newbie from Daikonovskij District. He’s a fucking idiot. Read the caption, Amagi.” 

Yu read the caption, aloud. 

“The hero of the day, Inspector Sakij Konishi made a heroic contribution during the last night’s fire by saving several lives. Here, she can be seen examining the house’s remains.”

“Not only do they don’t know right and left,” she mumbled. “they don’t even know...” 

She stopped saying anything else, but Yu knew what she meant. Her name was spelled with the wrong letters. “I look like shit too!” 

“It’s part of being famous.” 

Daisuke Nagase, who somewhat hated Konishi, did not look at the newspapers, except the more important newspapers like Izvestija and Pravda, which did not cover anything about the incident, except for a few sentences and did not have her picture plastered onto the front page. 

He pondered about the matter of heroism as he whipped out his phone to play KFR (Kokusai Futoboru Renmei), a FIFA-like clone invoving Imaginationland’s football teams, all while sighing. 

“So we don’t really know what just happened?” asked Ryotaro. 

“Not that strange,” answered Nagase. “I don’t personally know what happened. I mean, nobody knows if it’s arson or not.” 

“Why should it be arson?” Ryotaro asked.

“Quite an optimist, Daisuke.” Yu said. 

“It’s a bloody arson!” Saki butted in. “I saw it blow up with my eyes!” 

“And you’re certain this happened at Kasaev’s room?” Ryotaro asked. 

“Yes.” Saki answered. 

“How long you were observing it?” 

“23 minutes. And before that, Anganskij was there.” 

Yu Amagi massaged his jaw. Then he said: 

“You’re sure nobody went in or out at that time?” 

“Yeah. I’m damned sure. What happened before I was there, I have no idea. Anganskij claimed three people went in and nobody came out.” 

“Can we rely on that?” 

“I don’t think so. He seems dumb.” 

“Do you really mean it?” Yu asked, not sure whether it was true or was it just Saki being a dickhead for most of the time.

Daisuke glanced angrily at Saki. 

“What the hell is this about anyway?! I just stood there and the house got on fire. I saved 8 out of nine people!” 

“Yeah, I noticed that.” Daisuke said, as he glanced at the newspaper’s other sections. 

“Are you sure three people died?” asked Ryotaro.

Yu pulled out some papers out of his inside pocket and read them. Then he said:

“Yeah, seems to be it. The Kasaev guy, another named Nekun’ Vamantovskaja, who lived above them, then Shigeru Kotialovskij. We’ll still have to find out more things.” 

“For all we know, Ms. Konishi, it might be more than just three who died. Besides, it could be more than that.” Daisuke butted in. 

“First of all, who were the ones who got out?” asked Ryotaro.

“First of all, nobody got themselves out.” replied Saki Konishi. “I’m the one who got them out. If I, or nobody weren’t there, nobody would be alive at all. Besides, I was too busy getting them out, so I don’t even know them by name.” 

Yu looked at the bandaged woman. Although she was pretty efficient as an investigator, she often behaved badly, probably due to her megalomania. Ryotaro just frowned. 

Amagi shuffled through the papers and added in as a diversion from a fight: 

“I have several names here. There’s Mufon Oblimov and Uzafumi Kunaev, married. Respectively, he’s 70 and she’s 73. Then there’s Tarila Kayamaev, 28 years old. Then from the party, we have Mufon Bimjanov, 25, followed by Avodu Ihejev, 29, Amarim’ Bekunev, 28. Then there’s Batelen Dedegain, who’s 24, and Agundeh Ruzenov, 35 years old.” 

“None of these names mean anything to me... aside from being the victims.” said Dojima. 

“Me neither.” Yu added, followed by Daisuke shrugging. 

“Mufon’s a drunk, and so is Tarila. Avodu Ihejev’s also a drunk, and Amarim’ Bekunev’s a whore. Batelen Dedegaev and Angundeh Ruzenov are drug dealers, the legal kind. But Nekun was a thief, just so to make it better for you.” Saki said. 

Daisuke got the phone when it rang. He took a notepad, pulled out a pen from his pocket and wrote something. 

“Mhm, go on.” 

The others watched on, as he kept writing. Then, he put down the phone and announced everyone in the room.

“Yeah, that was Kou. Amarim just died. So now, we have four deaths.” 

Konishi just looked at him. 

“The old couple’s got smoke poisoning, but they’re going to be ok. Dedegain’s got 20% burns and will be ok, physically at least. Tarila wasn’t physically injured, but she’s in a state of shock, and so is Mufon, Avodu, Batelen and Agundeh. We can’t really interrogate them right now.” 

“It’s just a normal fire then...” said Ryotaro. 

“Nonsense.” Saki said. 

“Shouldn’t you be at home?” said Yu. 

Just then, Kou appeared, looked at Konishi and said: 

“Saki, you gotta go to the hospital.” 

Saki just followed him. 

Some minutes later, Ryotaro left. Yu simply sat and read a newspaper, followed by Daisuke. Then Kou returned.

“What were you doing with her? Take her to the zoo?” 

“What d’you mean?!” asked Kou. “do with her?”

“I meant Ms. Konishi.” 

“I had her sent to the hospital. They said she won’t be allowed to speak or read for days. And whose fault is that?” Kou asked, with some anger. 

“Not me.” Daisuke added. 

While Daisuke and Kou had good relations with one another, Kou had good relations with Konishi, but Daisuke had hostility with Konishi. For one, Daisuke thought Saki was some arrogant ass, whilst Saki thought, vice versa. 

“Damnit, Daisuke! You always act like an ass towards her! Sometimes, I want to give you a punch!” Kou butted. 

For the first time in his life, Yu saw him angry. Daisuke just kept silent. 

“Stop it now, everyone!” Yu tried to calm them down. 

“You’re just as bad, Yu!” 

Suddenly, Ryotaro returned. 

“So anyway,” began Ryotaro. “I’m thinking of retiring, and I’m thinking, what restaurants should we take?” 

Easily, everybody got distracted. Even Yu. 

“But aside from that,” Ryotaro added even more. “Has anybody here gotten to the scene of the fire?” 

“Not yet.” Yu answered. “We’ll visit tomorrow.” 

“Yeah. I agree.” Daisuke provided his answer.


	4. Some doubts

The scene of the fire was closed off that only policemen were allowed. Yu, Daisuke and Yuuta were accosted by two policemen, albeit with hostility, because the two wore civilian clothes. Yu donned a single-breasted trenchcoat, turtleneck and quilted trousers, whilst Daisuke had a quilted jacket and a four-layered Telnyashka. On the other hand, Yuuta had quilted trousers and a quilted windbreaker.

“We can’t let you in!” said one policeman. 

“Who the fuck says you can’t let us in?!” Daisuke angrily asked. 

“Calm down, calm down, Daisuke!” said Yu as he presented his badge to the two policemen. Yu was aware that Daisuke can kick their asses, not to mention have them removed the next day, and thus defused the problem. 

The three went on towards the burnt building, along with them two forensic scientists. The interior was even gloomier, as the forensic investigators poked through the remains. 

“Yu, listen,” said the forensic investigator. “As you can see, this is the stove that was made to start the fire, the fuel so to speak. The supply valve’s fine, and the hose’s coupling’s gone.” She showed Yu the remains of the stove, then led Yu to what was once a door. “That’s the remains of the masking tape. Kasaev committed suicide.” Yu just nodded, but he had this feeling this wasn’t some suicide. Why would he have others killed if he intended to kill himself anyway?

Then there was one of their fellow investigators, Yumi Ozawa. She was actually somewhat competent, but she was also... boring, whenever she wrote a report. She had her hands buried in her coat pockets. Although most people thought of her as a logical, memory-oriented and calm person, Yu and others thought she some dudette that was always present in the toilet, when everybody needed her. She really wasn’t having problems with her bowels or her urine. It just so happens that’s where she’s happy working there. 

“Hi, Yu.” she greeted Amagi. 

“How’s things?” asked Yu. 

“Good, personally. It just reminded me of this incident, years ago. I just watched our town’s fire station burn down. And you?” Yumi added. 

“Well, it’s great with Daisuke.” Yu added sarcastically. “First, he had a fight with Kou just this morning. Then, he nearly had an altercation with these two cops.” 

“And Saki?” asked Yumi once more. 

“She’s at the hospital.”

“I admit though, she did well.” Daisuke said, as he zipped up more. 

They loitered and looked at the scene for an hour.

“Let’s go.” Daisuke added in. It was getting dark anyway. 

“Where?” asked Yu. 

“Home. It’s already getting dark.” Yu and Daisuke were neighbours by several kilometres, albeit they lived in different buildings. 

“Well, bye then.” Yu greeted her farewell. 

As they went home, in Daisuke’s car, Yu talked to Daisuke. First he was talking about his birthday gift for Yukiko, then about the crime. 

“Haven’t you noticed, that it took the fire to burn quickly?” Yu asked, as they were halfway towards his residence. 

“It could’ve been a doorbell.” Daisuke guessed. 

“Are you sure about that?” Yu asked. 

“Besides that, why didn’t Yumi ask Konishi about tailing Kasaev? Why is she tailing Kasaev anyway?” 

“She was just watching the dude and that was probably enough for her. To begin with, the Narcotics division wanted her to stalk him. Originally, they had someone else keep him but that didn’t work. So they released him, but didn’t want him to vanish. My uncle had so much work, so he let Konishi do the surveillance work for extra duty.” 

“Why Konishi?” 

“Since Dambic died, the higher ups chose Konishi to be good at surveillance. At least it’s a stroke of luck, because several lives got saved. Imagine how many lives would’ve been lost if it were Yumi who was there? Or some random policeman who doesn’t know shit?” 

“Yeah, fair enough. I should apologize to Kou.” 

“You should. We’ll find out on Monday what happens next.” 

Daisuke’s car, a silver AZMG 2150 (AKA 3-5-3), slowly lurched for several meters as there was a bus in front of them, a LIAZ-5256. He also turned on the car’s wiper as it started to snow. On the radio, it played a city pop song that had the vibe of summer, than winter. It so happened that in the winter, Los Santos faced traffic jams.  
“It’s probably a normal fire. Saki’s probably an ass, imagining things.” 

“Why that?” Yu asked, as he stretched his legs and messaged Yukiko about him coming home. 

“It could just be a bunch of thieves with explosives at home, or cans of banayad or petrol or alcohol. Maybe cylinders of gas. If they let him go, then he’s not that dangerous. I think it’s just insane that a high-risk or a suicidal guy like him would need several lives as well.” 

“If it’s arson, then they’re not just for him.” 

“It’s possible.” 

Neither could think of a way to think of another conversation, so it was just them listening to city pop. 

“Oh well, let’s meet on Monday.” Yu Amagi told Daisuke, as he hopped off from his car and went to their apartment. 

Daisuke Nagase went home, so he can spend time with his wife Kanako (nee Aihara) and their daughter, who was just complaining about a missing toy, a fire engine. Said daughter, named Rikako, sought for her fire engine for an hour, then decided to do something else. 

That night, over sherbet, she asked him a question.

“Do you think the fire was deliberate?” 

“I don’t think so.” 

He was an investigator. He should’ve known better.


	5. Maybe he wanted to kill himself, maybe not

It was Saturday and Yu Narukami woke slowly, burrowed into Yukiko’s neck. She was actually awake but her hands were onto him. He wasn’t sure whether it was early morning or late morning. There were clues: Mauriat’s Toccata was in the background, for a TV series that involved going to exotic places (for Imaginationlanders), like the former United States (could be a city or community in New Afrika or Cascadia or even Texas) some country in Europe (Transdniester?), maybe some city in central Palestine, it's them to decide. Some birds were outside, then there were cars driving around, a neighbour closing the door. Then came her voice. 

“Yu, it’s 8:30. What are you going to do today?” He realized he was going to buy her the CJD-4. He realized what he did yesterday and he promised that. He read on the last Martin Beck novel (in pdf), followed by a book about Russian volunteers in Republika Srpska (also in pdf) until 12:30 in the morning. 

Off duty in the weekends, Yu thought of what they’d do. Maybe they’d fuck and finally have a kid. Not because Yu was lousy at nutting, but because they weren’t in a rush, since Imaginationland people can still have children (without any problems) at 40 (even if their parents were adamant they should have kids) not to mention that most countries in Imaginationland tend to have socialist/social-democrat governments and system, which really takes care of them. On the other hand, they did dote on their relatives’ children, so there’s that, and they’d rather upgrade their shit on better things, like the CJD-4 he promised to Yukiko. 

Aside from that, they might be invited to his family’s outing on Sunday. Unfortunately, for the Amagis, they can’t say no, and they’d have to listen to her parents (and relatives) screeching about having a baby. Yukiko tried not to give a damn, even told Yu he should calm down and take a whiff of Marijuana or something. 

“Uh, yeah. We gotta do some shopping.” 

“Ah, yeah. It’s been two weeks since we didn’t shop for daily supplies.” 

But anyway, Yu charged his phone (from 19%), took a bath, and pulled on a fresh set of clothes, consisting of a grey shirt and light blue shorts. His wife on the other hand, wore a opposite patterned set of clothes. 

Both of them took breakfast, consisting of tea, rice and miso soup, all from yesterday.

“Are you doing anything else?” Yukiko asked. “There’s no outing this week. They moved it next week, because my cousin’s getting her thesis defense.” 

“Well,” Yu answered, finishing his morning meal of rice and miso soup. “I’m giving you a present that we can have... together. That, and we could fuck later.” 

Yukiko just laughed over the last sentence. 

“At least Tosuj won’t be drinking.” Yukiko reassured Yu. 

Yukiko’s cousin, Tosuj, always drank should Yu appear. In fact, it was his excuse to drink, to the point Yukiko’s other cousin complained. Sometimes, they excused by lying that they were busy and staying at home (to work or to play or to fuck), since that means Tosuj won’t be drinking. 

“But he does like drinking with us over campfire.” 

“Agreed on that. Hey, come to think of it, remember the fire you mentioned?” 

“Yeah, what about it?” 

“I don’t agree with Daisuke’s opinion. Konishi might sound like an ass, and you know how they hate each other, but she’s got a point there. What if it’s premeditated arson?”

“I was saying the same thing to him a day ago.” 

“And I don’t think the fire was for rest of the victims.” 

“Why so?” 

“Well, if we’re going to look to the suicide theory, why would he harm the rest? If we’re taking the arson theory, though, it could be plausible.” 

“Agreed on that.”

For the afternoon, he got her the gift and some games, shopped for vodka and a pack of beers. For the rest of the day, they pieced together a 1:8 scale model of a T-34-76, which neither could finish for weeks. For dinner, they had Soljanka with rice, and they drank two beers. After that, he watched Yukiko play Early Idea. In the meantime, they ate chips and drank older vodka (bought months ago) until they felt sleepy and dopey and went to bed. 

On Sunday, sleeping late, the first thing they did was fuck, then cultivate soybeans (for the tofu and the sauce) and potatoes from the balcony. In the evening, it was Yukiko’s turn to watch Yu play Early Idea. 

On Monday, he felt quite rested and energetic, and considered who Kasaev was and why would he kill himself and others. For the morning, he was at various colleagues’ offices at their station and visited the court for a while. Once he returned to visit the station, then the colleagues weren’t there. They took lunch. 

Along the way, on a bus, he called their police station. To his surprise, Daisuke called him. 

“Dude, aren’t you supposed to eat lunch?” Yu asked. 

“I was, but then you called. Where are you anyway?” 

“I’m at uh, Kumansk. I’m on a bus. I’ll wait for you at your room so we can eat lunch together, then we should call out everyone at Ozawa’s room so we can piece together who Cambe is, especially if Ozawa’s available. I have some bits of information about Kasaev.” 

“Yeah, sounds good. I’ll just have Yuuta.” 

“Yeah, sure, if he can.” 

Yuuta was their youngest member of the Murder squad. He also had this ambition to become the chief of the police, just like Yu’s uncle, Ryotaro. 

After eating lunch, Yu then went to Ozawa’s room to listen to an audio file he copied from the court, and made notes about Kasaev. 

One by one, respectively, Kou, then Daisuke, Ozawa and Yuuta went to Ozawa’s room. 

“So what did you get from the file?” Daisuke asked as Yu handed him a chair to sit on. 

“Kasaev involved himself in stealing and trading said cars. Last year, car thefts rose so high, that there could be well-organized gangs involved in stealing and selling said cars, not to mention smuggling them. Kasaev’s probably a small time cog, aside from his drug dealing. 

“How small.” asked Kou.

“Really small. Insignificant enough not to be noticed.” 

“So what made him get caught?” said Daisuke. 

“I’ll check.” Narukami checked his stapled papers, then he stated loudly and clearly. 

“At around September, Kasaev was stopped at a roadblock some three kilometers north of Cidanovo. It was just a routine traffic check and he just headed there by chance. He drove a VAZ-2101, a 1980 model. The car was fine, but it turned out he wasn’t the owner. The cops looked at the registration number with that of the stolen cars at that time. The number was there, but it was linked to a ZAZ-968M. It was either a false number by mistake, or by chance, was a hot number. At first, Kasaev stated that the car was loaned by the owner, who we’ll call Svjatopolk Toyoshima. Now, Svjatopolk was actually suspected of having a car theft racket. Before Kasaev got caught, they found some evidence against Toyoshima, but they couldn’t get to him. As of now, he hasn’t been found.” 

Yu then looked again then went on. 

“Kasaev kept telling that Svjatopolk loaned the car to him as he didn’t need it, and wanted to go out of the country. When the boys began to look at Toyoshima and wanted to look for him, heard of this Kasaev, they wanted to keep him in custody. They thought Toyoshima and Kasaev were accomplices. When they couldn’t keep both, they had Konishi tail Kasaev, in the hopes of getting to Toyoshima, who might tell them about the gang. And if they were a part of it, well, that’s about it.” then Yu changed his mind. “Maybe not. The registration and the licenses were forged, skilfully.” 

Kou Ichijou pinched his chin and asked: “why did they let him go?” 

“Lack of evidence.” answered Amagi. “Wait ‘till you hear the rest.” Narukami unlocked his phone and looked at the play button. “The prosecutors wanted Chambe to be in jail, for the suspicion that he received the car, and the fear that he might cause more trouble for them if he was set free.” 

Narukami then played the file again. 

Prosecutor:  
Kasaev: Well, I was driving along the road and there was a police car and a roadblock. I stopped, of course, and then when the police saw the car wasn’t mine, they took me to the police station.  
P: Mhm. Well, Mr. Kasaev, how did it happen that driving a car wasn’t really yours?”  
K: Well, I was going down to Oblimovsk to see my friend and Svjatocka  
P: Svjatopolk Toyoshima?  
K: Yes, Svjatocka gave the car for me for two weeks. So I took the chance of going so I won’t have to go by train. Not to mention it’s cheaper too and uh, private. How do I get to know the car was hot?  
P: How did it come to happen that Toyoshima gave you his car for a long time like that? Shouldn’t he need it too?  
K: Well, he planned to go to either Neverwinter, Kozakura, Iran, China, Belarus, Palestine, or maybe to New Afrika. Not sure how long though. He didn’t say anything.  
P: So were you thinking of using the car until he comes back?  
K: More or less, until he says he needs it. He lives in one of those apartments with parking spaces.  
P: Has Toyoshima returned?  
K: No idea.  
P: Do you know where he is?  
K: He might be in Palestine or Belarus, or wherever he wanted to go to.  
P: Mr. Kasaev, do you have a car?  
K: No. I once had a car a long time ago.  
P: Did you borrow his car on other occasions?  
K: No, only once.  
P: How long did you know him?  
K: A year.  
P: Do you meet him often?  
K: No. Just sometimes.  
P: What do you mean by “sometimes”? A month? A week?  
K: Once or twice a month.  
P: So you knew each other a bit then?  
K: Yes, fairly.  
P: But shouldn’t you know him well if he loaned you his car like that?  
K: Yes.  
P: So what was his job?  
K: Uhhh, I have no idea.  
P: Don’t you know each other for at least a year?  
K: No. We don’t talk much about it.  
P: And what’s your job?  
K: Nothing special or for the moment.  
P: What do you usually do?  
K: Well, it depends. For a while, I sprayed cars at a garage at Adzovo.  
P: How long was that?  
K: Lasted for a year, then the company stopped because it needed to move to a bigger facility, so I had to take another job.  
P: Anything else?  
K: I did look for work that involved painting vehicles, but there weren’t any. So, I decided to support myself as a drug dealer, well, at least legally.  
P: So how did you get to survive financially?  
K: Welfare from the state, saved some money then I borrowed a bit and so on.  
P: What was your intention to go to Oblimovsk?  
K: Look at a friend of mine.  
P: Before Toyoshima offered you his car, you planned to use the train. You also said going there by train was expensive.  
K: Well...  
P: How long did Toyoshima own the car, the Zetto?  
K: No idea.  
P: But did you notice what car he had when you met him?  
K: I didn’t think about it.  
P: Didn’t you work involving cars? Isn’t it strange you didn’t notice your friend’s car? Would you have noticed if he changed it?  
K: No, I didn’t think anything about it. I never saw much of his car anyway.  
P: Were you going to help him sell that car?  
K: No.  
P: Did you have any idea he traded stolen cars?  
K: Not at all.  
P: No more questions, then. 

Yu Amagi paused the file. 

“He’s very polite, for a prosecutor.” Daisuke said, yawning.  
“Indeed, and ineffective.” added Kou.  
“Yes,” said Yu Amagi. “They then let him go and had Konishi watch him, so they can get at Toyoshima through Kasaev. It’s most likely that Kasaev worked for Toyoshima, but taking into consideration Kasaev’s life, he probably didn’t do much.” 

“He also sprayed cars too. They’re very useful when you’re handling stolen vehicles.” 

Yu nodded. 

“This Toyoshima, can we get to him?” said Ichijou Kou. 

“Well, no. He hasn’t been traced. It’s possible Kasaev’s been telling the truth that he’s already out of the country. He’ll appear, most likely.” 

“I just don’t understand Konishi.” Daisuke glanced at Kou. “I mean, how can he maintain that she didn’t know why she watched Kasaev?” 

“She had to?” asked Kou. “Don’t start bothering her again.” Kou wasn’t forgetful with what happened last Friday. 

“For fuck’s sake, she should’ve gotten a bit as to why she needed to look out for Toyoshima. Otherwise, there’s no point stalking Kasaev.” 

“You gotta point there.” said a tranquil Kou. “You gotta ask her when she’s better, would you?” he added.  
“Hmm. 

“Well... the car business is not our problem.” 


	6. Case Closed?

During the weekends, Saki Konishi was forced to lie down in her hospital bed, grumbling and thinking about things, like the fact that she thought the simple conclusion of accident was full of shit. On a Tuesday, she had a conversation with Kou.

But she did get some things last Sunday. She had Kou get her stuff (her phone and some clothes) so she can get to think and talk and possibly do some things to waste time. In fact, he was one of the few friends she had within the force. She even wanted to date him, to much to her sorrow, as he was already married to an Azimsk resident (in the Northern district) named Chie. 

After the time Yu and his friends analyzed the file on a Monday afternoon, Saki got a phone call from Kou and talked for a bit. 

“Is this Kou? Yeah, it’s me, Saki.” 

“It’s me.” Kou answered. 

“How did I get up here?” 

“You passed out, Saki! How are you?”

“Some bandages here and there. Nothing to worry about. They’ll release me on Wednesday! Where’s Yu and Daisuke, and Minami?” 

“Well, they’re working.” Saki just nodded at Kou’s reply. 

“What about the investigation though?” Saki was hopeful to join enough. That is, until Kou spouted a sentence that said otherwise. 

“Well, the higher ups wanted to call it quits. Ryotaro will close it. His superiors want to call it an accident. But yeah, Ryotaro’s pissed.” 

Saki’s voice increased volume. 

“What? Is Amagi’s uncle out of his fucking mind?” Saki’s blood suddenly boiled. “What in shit is Dojima up to?!” 

Suddenly, the nurse commanded her to stop talking. 

“Ms. Konishi, this won’t do!” Saki’s bout of anger suddenly stopped... to divert it to the nurse. 

“Will you shut up?!”

“Hang that phone immediately! You’ve gone up far too soon! I’ll tell the doctor right away!” the Nurse added a stern command. 

Saki Konishi wanted to argue more, but the nurse’s stern attitude and her icy stare at Saki forced her to stop talking. Her teeth bared. Like she wanted to shit something that was hard. 

“Put down the phone!” 

Saki chaged her mind. 

“Kou... I will call you later. Maybe talk to you over VK.” Her face changed from anger to worry. 

Saki put down the phone and returned back to the room, but before showing her disagreement. 

Two kilometers away, Kou put down the phone and began laughing. 

“What are you laughing at?” Yu asked, writing another document on his laptop.

“Well... Saki got her ass reprimanded by the doctor. I can hear her shit on Saki.” Kou answered.

Yumi on the other hand, 

Yumi Ozawa just wrote her report, ending with: “Case closed. There is no need for further measures. Los Santos, Wednesday, December 15. 9:30”. She pulled out her ballpen and signed it with a small and illegible signature. Daisuke thought it was shitty for a signature. She then had 3 copies printed, placed the two on a tray and cracked her knuckles. She was thorough with writing reports. She had a way of working on them and made it sure that whatever she wanted written was going to be on the document. Once she formulated on what to do, she’d write them instantly and never forgot things about it. 

Now that her work (which she worked for several days straight) was already over, Yumi Ozawa was free, after five PM, that is. She was now looking to a week-long day off, that is until Ryotaro said otherwise. What should she do? Play World of Tanks or War Thunder? Get high for a day? Maybe visit her family south of the city? 

But for now, she decided to get to the toilet. She hoped that nobody would call. Although she examined crime scenes, she was more used to routine work, because she was more used to the office than getting her ass out. On the other hand she wasn’t really emotional with her work, nor was the recent crime bothersome to her. She also worked on how many had died in the building. There were four already. 

Amarim’ Bekunev, 28, 

Chambe Kasaev, 33

Nekun’ Vamantovskaja, also 28, 

Shigeru Kotjalovskij, 40, 

The three of them were severely burned, Kasaev 75% burned, and was the last corpse found. Shigeru died immediately (after jumping from the building) and Nekun’, died in their sleep. Bekunev died hours after the fire, and Kasaev already dead before the fire. 

Aside from that, Kasaev, Nekun’ and Shigeru had criminal records and did not have regular employment, whilst Bekunev was a legal prostitute. But there were bigger questions. What were the cases of death and how the fire had arisen? 

The first answer was that it lay with the pathologist. The cause of the fire was already a headache for Ozawa. 

Aside from that, she had the corpses photographed at every angle that it could cover. Ozawa believed that the fire was a random explosion caused by an ember, possibly already existing before anything could’ve happened, before leading to the main fire itself. It might have been possible that Kasaev was already dead. The blast that Konishi thought might have been the fire blazing to a certain extent that was fuelled by a blown out window and by sucking in the oxygen from outside. Aside from that, there might have been other reasons, such as the presence of gas or inflammable liquids. 

The spark itself could’ve been caused by: a cigarette, a stove’s spark, an iron, toaster, shitty wiring, and hundreds of other possibilities that Ozawa was still thinking about. But if the fire was that long, then people would’ve noticed it before. However, she thought that the people who were present at that time were asleep, drunk or on drugs. 

She had already visited the ruins last Saturday and noted that Kasaev’s room had a stove with a burner and four feet. She also discovered some bits of tape. Third, she noted that the ventilator was plugged with cotton and a towel. So the case seems to be clear. Chambe Kasaev committed suicide by locking the door and closing off the room’s openings, at least to make it quick and painless as possible. The only thing that caused it was a spark. 

A text message from Daisuke appeared. He stated that Kasaev’s cause of death was by carbon monoxide before the fire started. 

Now that she was happy, she returned to her flat. She, like Saki, was a bachelorette. Once returning to home, she made dinner for herself, consisting of fried beans and fried tofu sausages. Once eating dinner and fixing the plate, she sat on her computer and watched some movies. There was also the bed, waiting for its lady. 

She returned on Tuesday in order to verify her report. She noted that the windows were gone, along with its frames, but its window handles were still there, and she noted that they were fastened from the inside. She also checked and verified the gas meter (to indicate the amount of gas there was) and the clock to see what time it exploded, in order to strengthen their argument. 

At the same time, Daisuke texted her that Kasaev indeed die of carbon monoxide poisoning. 

\-------

Before they were to go to the hospital though, Yu decided to ask first if they can visit her. It was Tuesday. 

Unfortunately, the same nurse told him otherwise, but told him to visit her on Wednesday. 

He decided to call other people. First, he asked Anganskij, but he wasn’t there. Time to drink some coffee. 

Welp. Yu looked over the window, seeing over the classical buildings, then over kilometers away, an industrial area. Around him there were some vehicles moving along, consisting of a handful of cars and several more buses. He was more used to commuting than driving, even if both he and Yukiko could drive (albeit as a non-professional). 

On the other hand, he saw a construction of a new police station a hundred meters away. That new police station will consist of the nearest departments in the area (including theirs). He decided to open up his laptop and play Abadan, a faithful recreation (not really, because 30% of it was fiction due to the use of fictional characters) of the Siege of Abadan during the Sacred Defense War. 

As he shot a pixel Iraqi soldier with his pixel G3, he pondered as to when, how and why Kasaev died and what was the connection between his death and the fire? It could be possible that Chambe was killed, then burned it to prevent any traces, hence arson, as Yukiko suggested. If that’s the case, then how did the murdered got into the house without Konishi or Anganskij seeing it? 

“Ey lashgare saheb zaman Amade Bash, Amade Bash” Yu sang as he took an AKM than a G3. 

Yu Amagi heard Minami walk past, followed by Daisuke, who greeted him. 

“Yu, did you try talk to Saki?” Daisuke asked. 

“I tried.” Yu answered as he paused the game. 

“Well, I did talk to Ahusko.” 

“What did he say?” 

“Well he said that the last sign of life in Chambe’s flat was around before... 8:30. Aside from that, Ahusko claimed that apart from the guests, nobody went in or out at all the whole evening. But you know, Yu, he might be dozing that time. So we’re not sure.” 

“I agree on that. But it’s incredible that somebody got in and out without getting seen.” 

“That seems to be unbelievable. What do we do now then?” 

“We gotta talk to the pathologist.” 

“Aight. But she said she’ll prepare the report on Wednesday.” 

Then Yuuta Minami appeared. Yu paused the game again. 

“Oh hey, you’re playing Abadan!” Yuuta pronounced it as “A-ba-do-n.” 

“Uh, it’s O-bo-do-n.” Yu argued. Yukiko’s father was a Persian-language professor, and could pronounce it according to Irani diction. 

“Ah, sorry.” Yuuta apologized.

“What do you want?” Daisuke asked. 

“Well, I thought I could find something anything new on the fire.” Minami answered. 

Neither answered Minami’s question, thus, he decided to go on. 

“Uh, I could... do things.” 

“Hmm... we can’t get anything new right now, so can you get you and I coffee? How about you, Amagi?” Daisuke added. He sometimes called Yu by his married surname than his personal name. 

“Uh, I’ll get some ponciki. I’ll visit the forensic scientist. Bye, guys!” Yu stood up as he finished the game, put it down in his bag and buttoned up his trenchcoat to the top. As said, he picked up 3 ponciki rings and ate one, then kept the two in his bag. 

He then called for a taxi that can drive him to the forensic scientist which was located in the center of the city. 

The Forensic scientist who took on the autopsy was a 60 year old woman. She was a doctor, and was also Yu’s former lecturer at the Police Academy. Since then, they worked together on several cases and Yu respected her for her knowledge and skills. 

He knocked on her door, while hearing the rattle of computer’s keyboard. She opened the door without waiting for a reply. 

“Hi, Yu!” She smiled, reserved only for family members. “How’s Yukiko? And you?” 

“We’re good, Latonya. We got a CJD recently. Any news on the report?” 

“Yeah. I just finished it. All we need is to send it to you. Come and sit, Yu!” 

Yu sat down as he unbuttoned one button on his coat and settled himself to the visitor’s chair. 

“Anyways, so the fire’s somewhat mysterious. Can we get to look at Kasaev first?” 

“D’you want to see him?” she asked. 

“Preferably no.” 

“If you can stomach a charred corpse, you may. But I can tell it for you.” 

“So, how he died?” 

“I can’t say as such, but I can say he was already dead when the fire broke out. He was lying on the bed, fully dressed when the fire broke out.” 

“Could his death be through violent methods?” 

“Unlikely.” 

“Any other injuries?” 

“Yeah. Several of them. There was much heat and he lied in a fencing position, mostly because that’s how his corpse reacted to the heat. He had several cracks on his head, but these occurred after he died. There were bruises and contusions, most likely from the falling beams and other objects, and his skull burst from the inside due to the heat.” 

Yu just nodded. He saw fire victims and knew that injuries can occur even after death. 

“So how did you conclude he was dead before the fire began?” 

“Well, there was no sign his circulation functioned when the body got burned. There was no evidence of the smoke getting in his respiratory system. Both of them had soot flakes in the respiratory organs and clear blood clots in his membranes. They died only after the outbreak of the fire.” 

Yu thanked her and looked out a window. There were vehicles spreading road salt over the snow-covered roads.” 

“Do you think he was murdered?” asked Latonya. 

“I don’t think he died naturally just before the building got burned.” Yu asked, as he saw other vehicles rolling through the road.

“His organs were quite healthy. What is even more unusual was that he had a lot of carbon monoxide in his blood, when he didn’t even breathe any smoke.” 

He then stayed for half an hour talking about their recent lives before coming back to the police station in the south. He pondered about pollution that still came from factories (far better than Earth’s pollution but still), and realized that all or most city dwellers have some carbon monoxide poisoning, especially from those who live nearby factories. He pondered again on the significance of Chambe’s blood having carbon monoxide, but he couldn’t think about it. Maybe at the station he could think about it. 

Afterwards, he returned to state the results on Kasaev’s death. Daisuke then texted it to her. 

So the facts were already there. Ryotaro and everybody else were delighted. Daisuke even told “I told you so.” to Yu, after which they were going to retreat to their homes and maybe play Survarium or Escape from Tarkov, whatever they agreed on. Or maybe one of the CJD-4 games. Ryotaro will have the case closed on Thursday or Friday. 

\----

Now it was Wednesday. Yu and Daisuke (begrudgingly) decided to pay Konishi a visit.

“Let’s come visit Saki.” Yu requested Daisuke.

“Good thing I finished this work, otherwise I would’ve disagreed with you. I don’t really want to see her.”

As they went out, Yuuta appeared with a bunch of flowers.

“Yu! Flowers for Saki!”

“What’s that for?” asked Daisuke.

“For Saki!” Yuuta answered.

“So you want to fuck her?” Daisuke asked with a mixture of laughing. “Maybe if she has a liking for boys younger than her.” 

Yu laughed at Daisuke’s joke. If anything, Saki wasn’t interested in having any romances, but she tried hitting on Yu, then Daisuke, then Kou. All to no avail.

**Author's Note:**

> Not much notes for this chapter, until people ask me.  
> 2108 - Lada Samara/VAZ-2108


End file.
